K. Sakurai et al., ANTIINFLAMMATORY ACTIVITY OF SUPEROXIDE-DISMUTASE CONJUGATED WITH SODIUM HYALURONATE, Glycoconjugate journal, 14(6), 1997, pp. 723-728
Superoxide dismutase (SOD) from bovine erythrocytes was conjugated wit
h sodium hyaluronate (HA) with a mean molecular weight of 10(6) to hav
e greater anti-inflammatory activity in vivo. Amino groups of SOD were
coupled with carboxyl groups in the hyaluronate molecule using 1-ethy
l-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)carbodimide The HA-SOD conjugate was compos
ed of 1.5 mol of SOD molecule per 1 mol of hyaluronate on the average,
and retained 70% of the activity of unmodified SOD. The conjugate was
essentially non-immunogenic in mice, and exhibited much higher anti-i
nflammatory activities than HA or SOD in models of inflammatory diseas
es such as ischemic oedema of the foot-pad in mice, carrageenin-induce
d pleurisy and adjuvant arthritis in rats.